Agencies
Last Thursday, Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court extended the custody of Kejriwal with the ED by four days, till April 1.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which recently arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy case, has contacted Apple to help gain access to his iPhone, The Indian Express reported on Sunday. The central probe agency does not have any recovered electronic evidence against Kejriwal in the form of his personal computers or desktops but four mobile phones, including his, were confiscated.
On the night of his arrest on March 21, around Rs 70,000 was found — and left untouched — in his residence. The Chief Minister had switched off his iPhone and hasn’t shared his password, sources told IE.
The chief minister will be under the ED’s custody till April 1 (Monday). During his questioning, Kejriwal stated that by accessing his telephone data and chats, the ED would be privy to details of AAP’s “election strategy” and pre-poll alliances, the report said citing officials.
The ED has now officially contacted Apple to obtain access to the chief minister’s iPhone but has been told that a password was necessary for retrieving any data.
According to the report, Kejriwal has told the agency that this phone has been with him for about a year and that the device he was using when the liquor policy was being drafted in 2020-2021 was no longer with him.
Last Thursday, Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court extended the custody of Kejriwal with the ED by four days, till April 1. The ED had, however, sought a seven-day extension of Kejriwal’s custody for further interrogation in the money laundering case.
During the hearing, the ED claimed that Arvind Kejriwal was not cooperating with its probe. “Kejriwal has not disclosed the password of the mobile phone recovered from him. If he does not cooperate, we will have to open it (technically). Therefore, we need further remand. He is not cooperating. He is not answering the questions directly,” the probe agency said in court.
The ED said it had evidence that Arvind Kejriwal asked for a bribe of Rs 100 crore from the ‘South Group’.
